The cake is done and I entered it yesteday afternoon. Whew! There were only 3 entries in my class, so hey, I might get 3rd place!
I didn't see the other entries, so I have no idea what the competition is like. I'll know this weekend how I fared. The whole experience has beeen great and I've learned a lot. Hopefully, I'll have an opportunity to talk to the judges for tips on future entries. (I've already picked out a recipe for next year's cake: Sweet 'n Salty Chocolate layer cake.)
I made 4 cakes during the whole process and my family and I are pretty sick of eating cake. I tweaked my recipe and process a little each time and some things worked and some didn't.
Didn't work:
- Thermal pan bands. You soak these in water and wrap them around the cake pans. It's supposed to help the cake to rise evenly and to avoid the dome shape. They did make the cake rise nice and flat, but they also prevented a crust from forming on the sides of the cake. That could be good in some instances, but not for a heavy cake like a Hummingbird cake. The sides blew out and I ended up with a cake that looked like a flat tire.
-Butter not completely soft yet. I was trying to rush things, so I thought that the butter would be OK in my cream cheese frosting...nope. There were little chunks of butter left throughout, no matter how long I whipped it in the mixer. I finally took most of the frosting and put it in the food processor. That got rid of the chunks, but made the frosting a little bit runny. Note to self: ALWAYS use very soft butter in frosting.
-Overcooking the cake. This cake is kind of like banana bread. It doesn't look done, but it really is. With my first cake, I did the toothpick test and it was still a bit moist in the center, so I put it back in the oven for about 7 minutes more. That cake was just a tad dry. The other cakes cooked for less co time and they turned out great.
Did work:
Lining pans: Lining the bottom of pans with parchment paper or tin foil, made the layers come out of the pans easily and intact. I also buttered and floured the entire pans and linings.
Cake rounds: These things are great...just simple, cardboard rounds that are the same size in diameter as my cake. They make the cake so much easier to move around. I also cut one cake round in half because the contest called for 1/2 cake, not a whole cake. After I frosted the entire cake, I then cut it in half along the edge of the cake round.
Freezing cake layers: This is something that I've learned a long time ago. It is soooo much easier to frost a frozen cake and the cake stays nice an moist for longer. I put the layers on cake rounds, then double wrap them in plastic wrap and foil. When I take them out, I unwrap them and brush off the loose crumbs and I'm good to go.
Silicone pastry brush: Perfect for brushing away crumbs. You could also use a bristled paint brush.
Cake leveler: I bought this at Wiltons and it looks kind of like a hacksaw. It has a bow shape with a wire and small, flat feet. you place the feet on the counter and saw back and forth as you drag it across the top of the cake layer. It cuts off that dome part of the lay and makes a nice, even, flat layer for stacking.
That's about it. I'll let you know if I place in the contest. Thanks for everyone's support and wonderful tips.
~ C